NYC Indie rock heroes Yeah yeah yeahs in Brooklyn last night. Like the fifth time getting dragged out to see this band which I am not a fan of. (Ms Beef is though, and also I have a longtime friend who married their guitarist's sister) They have long since become a KISS-type nostalgia act. Rote stage antics, obnoxious lighting, "nobody rocks like New York City!" banter, shit like that. Of course, they can still fill up arenas and the faithful eat it up, so my criticism is completely worthless, I get it. I am in a very small demographic of maybe like 10-20 people, who have to put up with this particular band against their will.

I'm not into YYY's either. It's almost cool, but goes over the line into annoying. I just saw that The Pixies are coming to Charlotte with Weezer in '18. That seems interesting. I'm going to ATL to see Luna this weekend for the 3rd time. And hopefully go see BRMC in January. I saw Spoon a few weeks ago here at our Music Farm which is the premier venue in town now. They were fantastic, really nicely done show. I think the new album they put out earlier this year (Hot Thoughts) is one of the best alt/indie records of 2017.

I also have three gigs before the end of the year with three different bands - my own group which is still quite active, an old band I'm doing a farewell show with, and a new americana thing which I've only been involved with for about 3 weeks now.

jfurr wrote:I just saw that The Pixies are coming to Charlotte with Weezer in '18. That seems interesting. I'm going to ATL to see Luna this weekend for the 3rd time. And hopefully go see BRMC in January.

I passed on the Pixies earlier this year because Kim's not part of it. She is one of my idols. That's missing a huge piece of the puzzle. It'd be like, seeing Hootie without Soni, am I right or am I wrong here. The Weezer thing sounds interesting. They are weird though. That guy Rivers seems like he got lobotomized in the late 90s. First two albums I consider all-time classics, but I actually started to hate them after that very corporate rock green album.

Saw BRMC in a little club in LA back in '00 or '01. Jesus that is a long time ago.

Morrissey was in good form and voice last night, but let's talk once again about the hornet's nest that is concertgoing in 2017. We were hemmed in by tards. The man and woman next to Ms. Beef spent most of the concert fighting with one another. Midway through one of them gets up in a huff, followed a couple minutes later by the other. Couple songs later they return, one at a time... and start fighting again.

The guy on my left suffered from Restless Leg Syndrome. He wasn't shaking his leg in time to the music or anything, but during the more favored numbers, the tempo of it would speed up. So then I'm sitting there, my whole chair shaking in time to this guy's stupid restless leg. I actually considered trying to neutralize it with some vigorous leg shaking of my own. If all that's not enough, there's some idiot women behind us who somehow keep grazing the back of my head with what I assumed was a bunch of retarded gesticulating and interpretive dancing.

Finally let's talk about singing along at concerts. I really struggle with this. Few people like to sing along to their favorite records as much as I do. I'll even sing a cappella by myself walking down fairways and shit. Basically I go through much of life with some song or another in my heart. But when I buy a ticket to see a favorite artist perform, I pretty much don't sing along. A) I am there to hear the artist sing, and if I were to sing along, I'd mainly be hearing myself and how stupid is that and 2) nobody else wants to hear mine or anyone else's stupid amateur singing at a concert.

Saw Jonathan Richman with Tommy Larkin this past Friday night in Asheville. It was hilarious. Other shows coming to see are The Afghan Whigs and Built to Spill in Chapel Hill, and the Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta which has a really good lineup.

Whoa that looks like a pretty cool festy even if I'd be totally out of my element. I recognize like 5% of those names. Night 3 looks the best right? The return of the D! And the BRMCs. Also wouldn't mind seeing Cake. I didn't like them in the 90s but when I hear some of those songs now, they are quite good.

Jeff Lynne and Electric Light Orchestra are coming to NYC. Up in the air because Mrs. Beef might be out of town. Not going to go by myself. Same thing happened a couple months ago, I ended up going to see the Trashcan Sinatras all by my lonesome. It sucked. Standing in a corner near the bar all night sucking down whiskey and soda trying not to look like a complete loner psychopath. Now I am generally a loner and don't mind being alone, but in this particular type of scenario, felt sad.

I am honestly excited to see another of my Mount Rushmore of Rock heroes. I don't get out much but in my life I have seen live Dylan, Page, Plant, McCartney, Morrissey and now Jeff Lynne. Who else is there on earth? Ringo? Perhaps. The Stones? I think I missed my chance. They are way too old now. I think Jeff Lynne's shit holds up good though, because it's so heavily arranged, and supported by all these other musicians on stage. I seen the present day show on youtube, I know what I am getting tonite. It's gonna be the greatest hits and they are gonna sound pretty dang good.

I enjoyed it all right. They put on a good production, with lots of musicians and cool lights and graphics and lasers. Jeff is getting old, he can't really keep up with the music anymore. A lot of the vocals were handled by his male backup singer, kind of a letdown. Also no deep cuts really. They did that old Travelling Wilburys hit though which was nice. I knew every song inside out but I was bored by some of them, like Rockaria, Roll Over Beethoven, Do Ya. They did all the signature hits, but a number of my favorites were left out. Xanadu, Twilight, Confusion, Eldorado, Big Wheels would've been nice to hear.

Nice time overall though. Most of the crowd was ancient, which meant that exiting Madison Square Garden took extra long In the row in front of us though was a gang of six fratboys from St. John's who were totally into the show, chanting "Jeff!" and everything. That warmed my heart.